Older Adults - The Longevity Revolution

As of the early twenty-first century, the United States was on the threshold of a "longevity revolution." Dr. Robert N. Butler, the first director of the National Institute of Aging and chairman of the International Longevity Center, observed that during the twentieth century, life expectancy rose further and faster than during the entire period from ancient Rome (275 BCE, when life expectancy was about 26 years) through the year 1900.

The combination of better sanitation (safe drinking water, food, and disposal of waste), improved medical care, and reduced mortality rates for infants, children, and young adults accounted for this tremendous increase. Life expectancy in the United States in 1900 was 49 years; by 1971 it had increased to almost 69 years. In "Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2002," (National Vital Statistics Reports, vol. 52, no. 13, February 11, 2004), the National Center for Health Statistics projected that life expectancy at birth in 2002 was 77.4 years.